Techniques exist which enable a consumer to download digital data, such as audio data, over the internet after they have paid for the data files concerned. The music industry, for example, would like to make its music available to consumers in this manner, and appreciates that the consumer may well wish to do more than store the downloaded music in a personal computer. If the consumer can record the downloaded music onto a recordable compact disc (CD-R), he will then have a digital audio compact disc (CD-DA) carrying a compilation of downloaded tracks for use, for example, in home hi-fi apparatus, in an audio player provided in a car, and/or in a portable audio player. The technology to enable a consumer to make such a CD, namely a CD recorder or burner, is now commercially available.
Of course, there is a real danger that consumers will use the available technology not just to make individual CDs for personal use, but to make a number of copy CDs for distribution.